Seahawks Keepers

After I realized that this team is not what I thought it would be (good team, division winner, probably second round of the playoffs) I switched my predicted wins and losses from 10-6 to 6-10. Now I’m wondering how they’re going to get three more wins.

This team is a weak 3-6 with a 3-2 record at home and an 0-4 record on the road. Their victories have been against (records are without the Seahawks losses) 1-7 St. Louis (terrible team), 5-3 Jacksonville (an inconsistent team that didn’t utilize it’s best player), and 1-7 Detroit (a game they would have lost if Matthew Stafford performed at a C- level instead of a D+ level).

Their road losses have been against good teams, but in order for a team to be good, doesn’t it have to beat other good teams? Isn’t that how it works? The records of teams that they’ve played on the road (minus their games against Seattle) are 8-0 Indy, 5-3 Dallas, 5-3 Arizona, and 3-5 San Francisco.

Home Scoring Overall:

Seahawks: 24.6

Opponents: 14.4

Home Scoring in Wins:

Seahawks: 33.7

Opponents: 6.7

Home Scoring in Losses:

Seahawks: 11

Opponents: 26

Away Scoring Overall (all losses):

Seahawks: 16

Opponents: 31.5

Home and Away Scoring in Losses:

Seahawks: 14.3

Opponents: 29.7

When Seattle loses, they get beat by an average of two touchdowns. That’s pretty horrible when you think about it. I take that back, you don’t need to think about it. Those are blowouts and it’s embarrassing for the team. I know they didn’t think they’d be this bad.

Let’s take a look at the schedule to see what’s in store for one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL this year:

at Minnesota

at St. Louis

San Francisco

at Houston

Tampa

at Green Bay

Tennessee

Tell me, where do you see the wins coming from? Minnesota is going to destroy them for several reasons, but a few notable ones come to mind (1) the game is at Minnesota and it’s a 10:00 a.m. PDT start; (2) Minnesota is quite possibly the best team in the NFC (either them or New Orleans) (3) Jared Allen and the Minny front is the best in the NFC; (4) Seattle’s offensive line is one of the worst in the NFC (or NFL, actually); (5) Adrian Peterson; (6) Percy Harvin; (7) Brett Favre; and (8) Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe “the Tripod” Shiancoe. This is not a good matchup for the Hawks. The spread is 10.5 and Minny is there play here in a big way. They’re going to win by two touchdowns at least.

Seattle should beat St. Louis because they’re terrible, but the game in St. Louis and it is another 10:0 a.m. PDT start. Not good. Not good at all. I could definitely see them losing this game.

I wonder who will be broadcasting that game for Fox… do they have an unpaid intern program for games like this? I’m trying to come up with a more uninteresting game nationally than this one for this year. Nobody outside of Seattle (who has no affiliation with the city, e.g. lived here or has relatives here or who has a family member or friend on the team) cares at all about the Seahawks. The Rams definitely have a following because of their LA days and because they’ve had some semi-recent success, but they’re terrible this year so the nation doesn’treally follow them. The following teams are probably as nationally irrelevant (because they suck this year or because they have no national following or both) as Seattle and St. Louis: Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville (actually, they’re irrelevant in their own market as it turns out), and Detroit (as are they, but you can’t blame the fans, 0-16 will do that to anyone). Not that national relevance matters at all to the fans of these teams. The only people who care about national relevance are national talk radio dolts and Sportscenter (and CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and NFL Network since they show the games). But I’m just thinking of people in markets without an NFL team who are subjected to games pitting any of these teams against each other because the networks deem them “regional” games. Hypothetically, can you imagine if you lived in say, Reno, Nevada and your local Fox station showed a St. Louis at Buffalo game instead of a New Orleans at Minnesota game because St. Louis is considered the more “regional” team? What do you think the rating for something like that would be? 0.3?

This is a roundabout way of me whining about the way the networks control the games and why we never, ever have two games at 10:00 (CBS and Fox) and two games at 1:00 (CBS and Fox) and one game at 5:00 (NBC). We always get the night game, but we never get more than three choices for 10:00 and 1:00. Instead, they air ridiculous infomercials–which I guess they have to do because they want to guard against no one watching the hypothetical St. Louis at Buffalo abortion to a region that doesn’t care about that game. Which I suppose makes sense, but not really because they don’t have to show bad games, they can show good games, there are plenty to choose from.

Back to the Hawks… can they beat San Francisco? I don’t see how, even at home. San Francisco is simply better. They don’t have their QB situation figured out, but everything else seems fine with them. Sadly, they are a better, tougher team that Seattle is right now and I can’t believe that’s happening. Can someone please bring back Mike Nolan?

Houston is far superior to Seattle and I fear for Hasselbeck’s safety in this game. I also fear for Marcus Trufant because Andre Johnson is no joke. Also, this game is in Houston at… you guessed it, 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Tampa is terrible and luckily for Seattle, they’re getting them at home because if this game was in Florida…

Green Bay is a very confusing team; one that I thought would actually go to the Super Bowl and win it this year. While that’s still a possibility, it certainly does not look likely, but they are way, way, way better than Seattle is right now, despite how disappointing they have been. Also, this game is on the road starting at…, well you already know.

Seattle ends the season with the other huge disappointment in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans. However, since they made the switch to Vince Young they look like a different team and are winning games convincingly. If they keep playing well, they might be in a position to fight for a playoff spot, as ridiculous as that sounds after starting out 0-6. If that’s the case, then there is no chance Seattle wins this game because Tennessee will have all of the motivation in the world and Seattle will just be putting the cap on a hugely disappointing season and will be clock watching the whole game. If Tennessee is out of it, then this game is a tossup and I’d actually side with Seattle only because the game is at home.

That means 5-11 or 6-10… and when you lose that many games, really, what’s the difference between those two finishes? The only motivation for winning more games at that point is to have a lower draft position so that they won’t have to fork over so much guaranteed money to an unproven commodity that may or may not help your team.

Speaking of commodities… let’s take a look at the current 53-man roster (and the three guys on IR) and see who should be kept and why (listed alphabetically):

Adams, Jamar S: keep – he can be a special teams guy, and a possible player for them down the line, although I’ve never seen him play defense.

Babineaux, Jordan, SS: keep – but I don’t know if I love him in a starting role, he’s excellent as a nickel guy and injury backup though.

Branch, Deion WR: cut – we’ve seen what he can do and it’s not enough for the money. Injuries happen, and that’s too bad, but he’s not productive enough.

Bryant, Red DT: maybe keep – he’s cheap and big; but I’m worried about his propensity to get injured… if they think he’s injury prone, then cut bait now.

Curry, Aaron LB: keep – very expensive, but very good, and will continue to get much better

Forsett, Justin RB: keep – he’s a fantastic player and cheap. He should continue to be a big part of the offense.

Gibson, Mike G: I have no idea, but there is no reason to keep him unless he’s got potential because someone else will come along next year.

Grant, Deon SS: – reduce salary – if he does not go for it, then cut him

Griffith, Justin FB: keep – he’s effective

Hasselbeck, Matt QB: keep – but for god’s sake, draft his replacement next year

Hawthorne, David LB: keep – he’s incredible and cheap. I view him the same was as I do Forsett on offense.

Herring, Will LB: keep – if he continues to be cheap, he’s a good special teams guy

Hill, Leroy OLB: keep – I love him when he’s healthy… but I’m starting to wonder, especially now that he’s been puh-aid.

Houser, Kevin LS: keep – I haven’t heard about any issues with snaps.

Houshmandzadeh, T.J. WR: keep – but man, I’d sure like to restructure that deal… nevertheless, he’ll be back, but the parties are going to have to have a sitdown to hash things out, he can’t behave like this next year.

Jackson, Lawrence DE: cut – I’ve seen enough

Jennings, Kelly CB: keep – but he can’t be a starter. It simply hurts the team.

Jones, Julius RB: cut – even though I don’t mind him, he’s a duplicate of Forsett and not as good (or young).

Kerney, Patrick DE: cut – not only is he done, he’s past well done, entering into charred-beyond-all-recognition territory.

Laury, Lance LB: keep – same exact thoughts on him as a Will Herring.

Lewis, D.D. LB cut – there are plenty of young LBs out there.

Lewis, Roy CB: no idea – the last time I saw him play he was wearing a W on his helmet.

Jones, Walter T: retire – how can he come back from that injury as big as he is and without the ability to take pain meds (which will help him later in life, ironically).

Tatupu, Lofa LB: I’m torn – right now, I’m leaning toward asking him to restructure his deal because he’s gotten hurt so much and if he can’t agree to do it, then he may have to be cut; he’s damaged goods right now and I love Hawthorne…